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HomeTopics...Gardening TipsHandling The Land
Handling the Land of Your GardenHandling the land is an essential step in preparing your garden. Before planting, you must prepare the soil for your garden.
Drainage and Deep PreparationThe first in handling the land involves drainage. Ground that puddles for a day or so after a heavy rain needs a drainage solution. Hard, dry land might also require drainage as this land tends to be in sod or a permanently planted state, which prevents soil from being broken up by tilling.
You can achieve effective drainage a number of ways. For expansive garden lands, the best and most permanent drains are hard-baked cylindrical tiles. These should be set at least two-and-a-half feet deep (three feet deep is better). In most gardens, drains can be laid about every 30 feet.
In smaller gardens, ditches can be dug with hand tools such as a common pick and spade. Where under-draining is not an option for increasing the depth of the soil, trenching with a spade will suffice for deep preparation of the soil. This deep preparation involves breaking up the ground to the depth of two spades. By breaking up the ground, it prepares the garden to hold moisture, which is necessary for land with hard, high subsoil.
Surface Soil PreparationYou should prevent the surface soil from becoming baked or crusted. This condition causes water to evaporate much faster from the soil underneath. Loose, well-prepared soil also contains more food and promotes plant growth.
If the surface soil contains stiff clay, then plow or dig it in the fall and allow the weather to loosen it up. Otherwise, ground can be prepared in spring. Rather than a spade or shovel, a spading fork with strong, flat tines should be used for soil that is soft and mellow. Further preparation can be done with a hoe.
Saving Moisture in the SoilEffective garden design calls for an economical use of water so that the garden has plenty of moisture. Preparing the soil properly will hold the rainfall. Soil that is hard and dense will not hold moisture, especially if the surface slopes or lacks vegetation.
Frequent shallow tilling will conserve moisture. Dry, loose mulch also conserves moisture by interrupting the capillary action between the surface soil and the under soil. The bonus is that the mulch's soluble plant foods are washed into the lower soil. Mulch should be replenished or repaired as often as the land compacts.
Watch for hard, crusty soil, which indicates evaporation. Before watering the area, loosen the soil. Don't just sprinkle the area; soak it through in the evening. In the morning, loosen the soil again to keep the water from evaporating.
Garden ToolsYou should take great care in selecting garden tools. Find ones that fit you and your gardening purposes. Here are some tips:
Enriching the Garden LandBefore planting a garden, soil will often need to be enriched. Adding fertilizer is one step. Improving the physical structure of the soil is another step and often the more important one.
Small gardens benefit from a commercial fertilizer product. If the garden features mainly plants grown for their foliage, such as ornamental bushes, the fertilizer should be rich in nitrogen. For gardens flush with fruit and flowers, the fertilizer should be comparatively rich in potash and phosphoric acid. Although fertilizer can be applied either before or after seeding, it is generally best to apply it before.
Ground that tends toward being hard and baking—as well as those that tend to be loose and leachy—benefit from the addition of organic matter. This compost, as it decomposes, incorporates into the soil to form humus. This humus helps the ground retain moisture and promotes plant growth.
Some other tips:
Resources
Bailey, L.H. (2005). Project Gutenberg eBook of Manual of Gardening (Second Edition). Retrieved March 6, 2008, from the Project Gutenberg Web Site: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8mgrd10h.htm.
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